Warship of Great Power

Launch!

Following the order, the huge warship moved backwards and slowly entered the water. One, two... four, the scene of these four frigates being launched together was really shocking!

After all, this is a warship with a displacement of more than 6,000 tons. It is definitely a main battleship in any European country. In the East, it can only play a supporting role.

The tugboat came over and towed the frigate to the outfitting dock on the side. Soon, the outfitting dock was full.

"Let's go and take a look." Qin Tao was very excited.

Although Qin Tao had seen the design drawings before, he had never seen the built 054B frigate. In his previous life, he mainly studied aircraft carriers and did not pay much attention to these escort warships.

Now, walking on this warship, there is really a special feeling.

"Although it is just an ordinary frigate here, if it is placed in the world, it can be used as a destroyer. The overall performance is not worse than the mainstream destroyers in the world, such as the British Type 45 destroyer." Meng Fansheng said on the side.

Speaking of this, Qin Tao became interested: "If I remember correctly, is the British Type 45 destroyer about to be launched?"

"It seems so."

In the distant Europe, Glasgow Port.

The flags are flying and the colorful flags are fluttering. Countless people are standing next to the slipway, their faces full of excitement.

The last time there was such a spectacular scene was when the two Queen-class aircraft carriers were launched, and this time, they finally ushered in another major moment!

On the slipway, a modern warship is ready to be launched. Its upper hull is retracted inwards, with a modern stealth vision. Its bridge mast is extremely tall, and the ball on the top of the mast looks inexplicably funny.

"Today, we have ushered in another important moment!" A graceful woman stood in front of the microphone, looking at everyone present, and her words were extremely excited and proud: "The first ship of our Type 45 destroyer is finally going to be launched! We named this warship the Courageous, hoping that it can be as brave and confident as our navy!"

They already have two aircraft carriers, but no carrier-based aircraft, so they can only wait temporarily. Even because there is really nothing to do, the second ship is often huddled in the port, probably to save money.

However, the navy still has to have a facade. With aircraft carriers, there must be escort warships. After they built two aircraft carriers, they finally started to build escort destroyers!

The Type 45 destroyer is their proudest warship! A lot of advanced technologies are applied on it, such as the integrated power system of the whole ship. It uses the most advanced WR-21 mid-section cooling and reheating gas turbine unit. The two gas turbines can output a maximum power of 43 megawatts, all of which are used to drive the generator and then transmit it to the motor.

However, since the aircraft carrier is powered by this kind of system, it seems that there is nothing to be proud of. However, the electronic equipment on it is still the most advanced. It uses the Sampson radar developed by BAE. The big ball on the top has the most advanced air defense radar in Europe!

Of course, the radar has not been installed yet. It will not be installed until the outfitting. Moreover, these will not reduce their faith in this most advanced warship at all.

This warship represents the future of their navy!

"Your Majesty, it's time to throw the bottle!"

"Okay." The woman pressed the button with a smile, and her posture was very elegant. Then, the huge warship slowly moved and entered the water.

Wow!

Countless people applauded and cheered, and the woman also looked at it with a smile, as if she saw the once powerful empire on which the sun never sets.

"There is something I need to report to you." At this moment, Benjamin came over and whispered to her.

"Go ahead."

"The Navy plans to retire two more Type 23 frigates."

"Why?"

"Because the funds do not allow it and there is a shortage of manpower."

The size of the British Navy is constantly shrinking. In order to reshape their image and let the world see their strength, they decided to build two aircraft carriers, but they have aircraft carriers, but the escort warships have not yet been found.

They must build Type 45 destroyers, and now, the first one has finally been launched. Those outdated Type 42 destroyers are simply unable to take on the task of protecting the Navy's aircraft carriers.

But where are the manpower?

To operate a warship, you need people, and people cost money! The Navy's funds are really insufficient, so they decided to eliminate two Type 23 frigates!

Since the Sea Dart air defense missiles used on the Type 42 destroyer can only intercept high-altitude targets, once they encounter anti-ship missiles flying at ultra-low altitudes, they can only rely on the Sea Wolf air defense missiles on the Type 23 frigates. Although the performance of this missile is not very good, it can still be used.

Now, in order to fill the Type 45 destroyer with crew, they need to accelerate the elimination of the Type 23 frigates!

"If we eliminate two more, I'm afraid we will only have nine frigates, right?"

"Yes."

What about the once huge navy? Now it has declined to this extent! Look at the East, there are dozens of 054 frigates, and they are still building and modifying them. The 054B is already a 6,000-ton ocean-going frigate.

What about their British Navy? They actually eliminated the Type 23 frigates because they couldn't afford to support people!

"So, we also need a brand new frigate." Benjamin continued: "The Navy calls this frigate Type 26. According to our plan, this will be a low-cost product that is easy to build in large quantities."

The Type 45 destroyers were so expensive that the British Navy decided to purchase only six destroyers at most. For a two-carrier formation, six destroyers were simply not enough, so a brand-new frigate was necessary.

In fact, this kind of frigate has been designed since the 1990s, but the progress has been slow. Now, it is time to take it seriously and develop rapidly.

In order to meet the needs of long-distance voyages, the displacement of this kind of warship cannot be small, and it also needs to have a modular design to facilitate meeting the needs of different missions. However, the most important requirement for this kind of frigate is that it is cheap!

Only if it is cheap can it be manufactured in large quantities!

"Can we improve existing warships, such as Type 23?" the woman continued to ask.

Since there is a demand for cheapness, why not improve the existing ones? According to her idea, it is definitely cheaper to modify the existing ones than to build new ones!

"This... we have made a budget. If we want to modify existing warships, it will cost more money. It is estimated to be more than 50 million pounds."

This is an extremely huge amount of money, so huge that they can hardly imagine it!

For the British shipbuilding industry, it is quite difficult to control costs. The budget of more than 50 million pounds is actually not high at all. You must know that in later generations, when the British modified the Type 23 frigate Westminster, they spent One hundred million pounds!

Because of the huge cost, the project had to be stopped midway.

"Why are there so many? Not to mention the shipyards in Dongfang, even the shipyards in Goudahu, I'm afraid they don't have such high costs, right?"

"Yes, but we have no other choice. Do we have to purchase it directly from the East?"

The conversation between the two ended. At this time, the Type 45 destroyer had left the slipway and headed to the outfitting dock with the help of a tugboat to prepare for the final step.

It has to be said that the British shipbuilding industry is still relatively advanced. Modular construction is widely used, and a lot of internal outfitting work is also completed during modular construction.

Outfitting will not take too much time, and the Type 45 destroyer can be ready for sea trials!

"When our fleet is built, we will sail to the East..." The woman continued to dream.

The next day, the news was reported around the world.

"The British Navy's first Type 45 destroyer was officially launched, which means that the British Navy has entered a new era!"

"This is a great development and represents a new breakthrough for the British Navy!"

"Their breakthrough was when they finally had the ball on their head." Qin Tao said with a smile while watching the news.

At this time, Qin Tao had returned to the capital and home. He was indeed homesick and missed his wife and children.

"Actually, the performance of their warship is quite good." Wu Shengli said: "Especially the radar system in the ball you mentioned. We have done analysis and it is even more advanced than the radar used by the American Aegis system."

"Yes, the performance of Sampson radar is advanced enough, but the price is quite high, so much so that the British are reluctant to build a four-sided phased array radar and can only use this back-to-back method." Qin Tao said: " The displacement of their Type 45 destroyer is more than 2,000 tons less than that of the Burke class, and the missiles it carries are only half of those of the Burke class, but the total cost is half that of the Burke class. This radar contributes a lot. "

The West can only watch the Eastern warships making dumplings, but cannot catch up. There is no way, because their construction costs are too high. The equipment of the US Navy is already expensive enough. Europe is even more expensive than theirs. The British want to develop. A powerful naval fleet is destined to be a dream.

"Yes, but speaking of it, the performance of this Ziyuan anti-aircraft missile seems to be so advanced that the British have no intention of equipping them with close-range defense weapons. They rely on the Ziyuan-15 for short-range air defense."

Although the Europeans have a lot of troubles in jointly building warships and often part ways, there are also some projects that have reached the end, and the Ziyuan anti-aircraft missile is one of them.

This missile was jointly developed by France and Italy and was selected during the European Joint Warship Project. Although the British developed their own radar system, they still chose this missile as the main weapon and equipment, which shows that it also has many advantages. of.

This missile has only one type of missile body, which can achieve different ranges by combining two different boosters. The small Aster-15 has a range of 30 kilometers, and the large Aster-30 has a range of 120 kilometers, which is enough to make Europeans feel So proud, they finally have missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers!

Of course, the most important thing is the control system. In addition to the active guidance of the seeker, in terms of maneuverability, it not only uses the traditional tail rudder surface, but also uses high-end lateral thrust control. When the missile approaches the target At this time, this lateral thruster is used to control the missile body to hit the target, which is faster than the reaction time of the missile wings, so as to facilitate the interception of supersonic anti-ship missiles.

After comparison, the British thought it was stronger than standard missiles, so they used it.

"Yes, this missile is indeed their best choice. Its overall performance is only slightly worse than our Hongqi-16."

You can't compare it with HQ-9, otherwise it would be an insult to HQ-9. If you want to compare it, compare it with HQ-16. It has all the technologies that the Aster missile has, and it also has the technologies that the Aster missile doesn't have!

"Yes, if you put it that way, I do think this missile is just a little worse than our HQ-16. Their Type 45 destroyer is about the same as our 054B."

The top of the 054B also has a rotating double-sided phased array radar, just to save money. The British did the same. The 054B uses the HQ-16 missile, while the British use the Aster. There is not much difference in quantity. We have 32 missiles and they have 48 missiles.

But in terms of cost, our four launched 054Bs are not as expensive as the other side's Type 45.

Speaking of this, Wu Shengli was also very emotional: "Our navy can produce dumplings, and our weapons are cheap. Taozi, your Mingzhou Group has made an indelible contribution!"

"Dad, what's the point of saying this now?" Qin Tao said: "Your position determines your vision. Don't just focus on one or two advanced weapons, but also look at what kind of mission you are responsible for. The coast guard is doing better than you. They are planning large-scale operations."

"How do you know?"

"I guessed it." Qin Tao said: "Although I don't know the specific actions of the coast guard, I also know their general plan."

"No, I mean, how do you know that our navy is not as good as the sea police? The actions of the coast guard still need the cooperation of our navy!"

"Are there any big moves recently?" Qin Tao's eyes lit up.

Last time Qin Tao had intervened, under his suggestion, the navy's aircraft carrier formation sailed to the depths of the ocean, and 055 brought a 052 and a supply ship into the eyes of others, shocking countless people.

Now, what big things is the navy going to do?

Wu Shengli rolled his eyes at him: "Don't you know that we also accepted the invitation to the RIMPAC 2006 military exercise?"

There is a RIMPAC military exercise every year, which is a joint maritime exercise between the countries along the Pacific coast. For some countries, this is a naval event, while for some countries, it is enough to watch from the side, but there is no chance to personally get involved.

Who would have thought that this year's military exercise, our side also accepted the invitation!

Qin Tao was curious: "Dad, the navy agreed? This may be a drunkard's intention is not to drink!"

Even a fool can see what the people who invited us are thinking. They clearly want to find out our background!

"What can't be agreed to? We can just send No. 112 over."

Qin Tao almost laughed out loud. Isn't the navy too perfunctory? For military exercises of this level, other countries have to send the most advanced warships to participate. This is a way to show off their muscles, for fear that their navy will not be able to compete with the other side.

However, we did the opposite. If the other party invited us, we would send the Type 112 warship. After all, most of the technology on this warship is from the West. Whether it is the radar or the command system, they were all imported from the West back then, and even the engine was imported from the United States.

Sending this warship over will definitely not leak secrets. In fact, since the construction of Type 112, it has mainly played the role of a diplomatic star ship, sailing across the oceans of the world and visiting many countries.

Just like tanks, our most advanced Type 99 tanks are never sent out. Every time we go to the Russians to participate in the tank competition, we use Type 96 tanks. Even if we lose, we will not lose face. If we win, everyone will be happy.

Wait! This should not be what my father-in-law is talking about. This warship is just a cover. There must be other good shows!

"Dad, if I'm not qualified to know, don't tell me. If I know, don't keep me in suspense."

"Well, your Mingzhou Group has been busy, so when our navy decided to purchase a 6,000-ton electronic reconnaissance ship, we didn't look for you, but directly looked for Huating Shipyard."

Electronic reconnaissance ship?

Qin Tao reacted instantly: "Dad, you are too dark, they invited us to participate in the exercise, and you want to drive this electronic reconnaissance ship directly over?"

In the past, the navy has been interfered with by other electronic reconnaissance, including planes and warships. Although they would take off and intercept every time, it would still make people angry and helpless.

The best way is to treat others with their own way.

Aren't they spying on us? Then we will spy on them too!

Anyway, there is the right to free navigation all over the world, and we can also use this power!

The premise is that there must be such a ship.

In order to achieve this capability, the Navy decided to develop a special electronic reconnaissance ship. The displacement of this ship is only more than 6,000 tons. The hull is not important, but the equipment on it is important. Therefore, the Mingzhou Shipyard was not asked to help.

This ship is named Type 815. The biggest difference from other ships is that it has balls of various sizes. The largest one is in front of the chimney, with a diameter of more than ten meters. There are two more at the back and one in the front.

In addition to the mast of about 50 meters in height, the entire warship can carry more than a dozen antennas, covering almost all bands. Any electronic equipment, whether it is radar or communication equipment, can be detected, and then the specific intelligence can be analyzed using advanced processing systems.

"Of course not, that would be a slap in the face. Our ships should only operate in the waters near the exercise." Wu Shengli said: "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Dad, I think it's better to disguise it. They invited us so hard, we can't let them be afraid of us from now on!"

"How do you think we should modify it?"

"Our Starship Company will cooperate and say that we are going to launch a spacecraft, and that ship is just a space tracking and control ship, so that we can give them some face."

"Okay."